Tesla shares rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading on Friday after the electric vehicle company proposed a three-for-one stock split.
If approved in a shareholder vote on August 4, it would be the company’s first such action after a five-for-one split in August 2020.
Tesla said the split would enable its employees to “have more flexibility in managing their equity” and make its stock “more accessible to our retail shareholders.”
The shares have fallen nearly 40% since Musk unveiled his stake in Twitter in early April, hurt in part by a strict lockdown in Shanghai that has affected production.
The company also said Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a friend of Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, will not stand for re-election to Tesla’s board when his term ends at this year’s shareholder meeting.
Ellison is among the top investors who have promised funding towards Musk’s proposed $44 billion acquisition of social media firm Twitter.
Alphabet, Apple and Amazon.com have also recently split their shares.
While a split has no bearing on a company’s fundamentals, it could buoy Tesla shares by making it easier for a wider range of investors to own the cheaper stock.
Tesla will also ask shareholders to vote to reduce its board of directors’ terms to two years from three. If approved, the terms would be staggered over two years.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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